Baseball

I wrote on my blog the other day about what a great job I have. The inspiration was the opportunity to spend a couple of hours with the 94-year-old winner of two World Series rings, Freddie Schmidt of Wind Gap. A few days later, I got another reminder. In my mail, unsolicited, was "Blue Mountain Time: New and Selected Poems About Baseball," written by another Wind Gap resident, Edwin Romond. He sent it to me after he read my Schmidt column. Romond met Schmidt a few years ago at a church carnival.

Fall baseball is just around the corner for college coaches. Saturday, Aug. 23 will be one of the last opportunities this summer for colleges to go out and recruit high school players. With that in mind, Dan Villanti and Lehigh Valley Rising Stars baseball will be holding their second annual baseball showcase at the Freemansburg Baseball Complex. The popularity of the showcase has grown, as 120 players are registered and over 14 colleges are scheduled to make an appearance, an improvement over last year.

Two games have been postponed in the first round of the District 11 4A baseball playoffs. The Whitehall-Freedom and Bangor-Pocono Mt. East games have been postponed until Tuesday. Northampton-Pleasant Valley and Emmaus vs. East Stroudsburg South were still on as of Monday afternoon.

Rob Manfred has been elected the 10th commissioner of Major League Baseball, multiple media outlets reported Thursday. Manfred has been serving as MLB's chief operating officer since September 2013. He had reported directly to outgoing commissioner Bud Selig. Manfred started in 1998 working full-time for MLB. Manfred has been instrumental in cleaning up the sport of performance enhancing drugs as well as labor negotiations. After much back and forth all day, Manfred secured the necessary votes to win the job. Manfred received 22 of 30 votes from owners earlier in the day. With 23 necessary for election, that meant Red Sox part-owner Tom Werner received eight votes.

Matthew Leon of Liberty (a rising junior) and Brett Kosciolek of Tamaqua (a rising sophomore) were named to the Pennsylvania squad for the Big 26 Classic, which pits high school all-star baseball players from Pa. against those from Maryland. The game features rising sophomores and juniors and will be held at Metro Bank Park in Harrisburg July 25-28.

The District 11 Class 2A baseball title game between Salisbury and Pine Grove was suspended in the top of the seventh inning Tuesday afternoon when thunderstorms moved into the area surrounding Coca-Cola Park. Pine Grove was batting with two outs in the top of the seventh and the scored tied 6-6 when the game was suspended. It will be resumed Thursday after the District 11 Class A final between Pius X and Tri-Valley, which is scheduled to start at 3 p.m. at Coca-Cola Park. The Pius X-Tri Valley title game was originally scheduled for Tuesday at 6 p.m. but was postponed earlier in the day because of the impending storms.

To the Editor: The game of baseball has lost a great player and ambassador, Elmer Valo (The Morning Call, July 21). And, the Lehigh Valley has lost a fine gentleman. Mr. Elmer Valo was both. In the 15 years I have known him, he never refused an autograph or to talk about baseball, or, for that matter, anything else. Elmer not only practiced good work ethics he also practiced good life ethics. He is sadly missed. ROLLIN SCHEW WASHINGTON TOWNSHIP, LEHIGH COUNTY

To the Editor: Is it a wise choice for baseball to strike because of money? Many people, including myself, feel the players should take what they're getting now, or they shouldn't get anything! Many people, not including the players, are losing money. Has anybody thought of the people who sell food at the games, or the people who sweep the stadiums? No, I highly doubt it. This whole issue is very stupid. I feel they should just play baseball! ERIN PERKINS CENTER VALLEY

A 39-year-old Allentown man was charged with hitting a female neighbor in the head with a baseball bat on Friday, according to court records. Eduardo McKinney was arguing with Eddie Pearson outside their apartment building in the 1000 block of East Gordon Street, according to court records. Pearson's wife, Cheryl, heard the commotion and tried to help, but a woman who was with McKinney blocked her from going outside, according to court records. At some point, McKinney grabbed a baseball bat and swung it at Cheryl Pearson, first hitting the door and then hitting her in the head, according to court records.

The season that provided North Parkland its first state tournament appearance and first state victory in program history ended Thursday in an 11-2 loss to Boyertown. The host Bears (32-11) jumped ahead 3-0 in the first inning off right-hander Brett Kosciolek, who struggled with his control. After striking out the first batter, Kosciolek surrendered a bunt single to Dalton Hughes. He walked Brandon Griesemer and Tyler Comport to load the bases. After a 2-3 putout re-established order for the second out, Boyertown struck the blow of the game.

"Being really lucky is a Hall of Fame credential," former manager Tony La Russa said Sunday during the annual ceremonies in Cooperstown that inducted La Russa and five others into Baseball's Hall of Fame. … The NFL is defending the two-game suspension of Baltimore's Ray Rice against critics who believe the penalty was too light for domestic abuse, maintaining that "the message has been sent. " … Tony Gwinn's death from cancer earlier this summer has led to some major leaguers kicking the chew habit . … Is this the year former first-round choice Brandon Graham puts it all together for the Eagles?

- As Derek Sanderson Jeter graced his final All-Star game, what made the moment special was what it was not. Not contrived. Not manufactured. Not choreographed by a video board operator with his button on the oversized clapping hands, or by event planners with a budget fit for a royal wedding. There will be time for all of that. The New York Yankees will make sure of it. Bless the Minnesota Twins for not intruding on the moment with a gaudy ceremony. This was an understated evening - at Target Field, if not on television - the chance for the players to say farewell to the retiring Jeter in their own way. "That was much better," Jeter said, "than if there was something that was scripted.

By Nick Rabasco, Of The Morning Call and By Nick Rabasco, Of The Morning Call | July 15, 2014

On-base percentage has been widely regarded as baseball's most important individual offensive statistic by sabermatricians. Nobody across the nation in Division II was better at this skill than East Stroudsburg University's Nico Delerme. Delerme, a red-shirt senior and All-America selection, posted a .557 OBP this spring. He reached base in 93 of his 167 plate appearances, including 55 hits, a PSAC leading 37 walks, and one hit-by-pitch. He reached base safely in every single one of ESU's 45 games.

It was once the mecca of local baseball, hosting games of all varieties throughout the spring and summer. It hosted high school baseball's league and district championship games as well as American Legion state and regional tournaments. For several generations, if you were a quality baseball player in the Lehigh Valley, you played at Coplay's Sammy Balliet Stadium at some point. Curt Simmons played here, as did Dave Schneck, Pat Kelly, Ted Wieand and Brian Schneider en route to big-league careers.

Anthony Martino threw six-plus solid innings and Jay Maletz belted a first-inning home run, helping third-seeded Pius X down No. 1Tri-Valley5-1 in the District 11 Class A baseball final Thursday afternoon atCoca-ColaPark. Gabe Solano added a two-run single and Connor Breslin had an RBI double for the Royals (14-8 overall), who won their second district championship in three seasons. They will face the winner of Friday's District 4 Class A title game between Canton and Montgomery in a PIAA Class A first-round game Monday.

With Jacob DeBoer in his second year as coach and a roster loaded with younger players, Pen Argyl began this season as a team ready to make a move in the Colonial League. Sophomore Dylan Evans has helped the Green Knights start their charge. He went 3-for-4 with a home run, two runs scored and three RBIs Monday as Pen Argyl pulled out an 8-3 win over Salisbury. He also pitched six innings against the Falcons, improving to 3-0. Evans' effort Monday built on his Friday performance against Southern Lehigh, when he went 2-for-3 with a homer and three RBIs.

Just as it did last year, Notre Dame-Green Pond's baseball program planned a win-or-lose postgame tailgate for the District 11 Class 2A baseball final. When Crusaders coach Mike Bedics approached an RV in the parking lot after leaving Coca-Cola Park after this year's title game, a banner snagged his attention. "I'm looking at this sign, and all of a sudden I'm reading it and it said, 'District 11 2A champions,' " Bedics said. "They had it made up before. [Senior pitcher Paul Roth's dad]

In 1955, Ray Burris' family business called for the then 5-year-old - who had yet to master reading a children's book - to pick cotton, milk cows and work in the hay, barley and tobacco fields in Oklahoma's small southwestern town of Duke. "We had to work to eat," he recalled. Two years later, Burris developed a passion for baseball and used the work ethic he learned in the fields to eventually become a major-league pitcher and, later, a pitching coach. Sal Rende, Dave Brundage and Mickey Morandini were born into different circumstances in different parts of the country.